Tree Hugger

My husband likes hobbies. He doesn't have just one or two, he'll start any new hobby so long as it's interesting (and costly). He's been through countless different interests during our years together, and while some (like photography) have stuck, other's (RC cars) haven't been able to hold his interest longer than the first $500. He has however always been interested in gardening. He loves to plan and build gardens, plant outside and in pots, and basically try against all odds to keep me from killing living things. I suppose it consistently presents a new, ever evolving challenge to him.

This weekend he decided to plant trees. Considering that last Tuesday he was trying to convince me that we needed to invest 7k in a new "project car," I was thrilled to be headed to a nursery instead of some shady car lot. After dragging Asher on Saturday to various local nurseries and chatting with people in the know, he decided to plant a Chocolate Persimmon and a Pomegranate tree.

I didn't get any pictures of the boys digging and planting because, once Amelia went down for a nap on Sunday, I headed to my room to catch up on Season Three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Don't judge me!) I do have some "after" shots of Elijah posing next to our new, not too pricey, sticks in the ground.

Angel In the Snow

Today was a snow day!!!

I don't especially enjoy the cold weather, in fact I pretty much hate the idea of being cold. However, Asher has been so disappointed with the idea that our new home won't give him the same opportunities to play in the snow Oklahoma offered, that I was thrilled to learn we had the possibility of a snow day. I even woke Asher up around 2:30 last night to show him that we had finally gotten some snow.

So...against all my normal instincts this is what we did this morning. (You may notice how bizarre Amelia looks, I had to dig through all of Asher's old clothes and put together a hodgepodge outfit because we don't have snow gear for her)

Asher enjoyed throwing snowballs at the house AND Chester.

Amelia insisted on swinging...but quickly decided against it.

Asher begged to jump on the snow covered trampoline. I begrudgingly agreed, but had to drag Amelia in kicking and screaming because she also wanted to jump.

Valentine's Day

I don't remember what we did on Valentine's Day before we had kids, although, given my love for pajamas, I'm fairly certain that it did not involve candlelit dinners in white table-clothed restaurants. We have always been the "staying in" type of couple so I can't imagine us doing anything more exotic than what we regularly do these days. Thank goodness there was at least one thing that didn't completely turn upside down when the first baby was born!

Here's an all too short list of how we spend this love-filled holiday:

1. I don't do anything crazy creative with Asher's school Valentines, but I do love helping him put together his store bought candy and card creations. It just reminds me of my happiest elementary school times.
2. We always stay in...mostly we lay around and watch The Simpsons.
   
3. Lastly, in my short list of Valentine's Day lame-o, family celebrations: Our V-Day always include a few heart shaped pizzas courtesy of Papa John's.

This post written in response to:

Unbroken

Nothing like finishing a book about a plane crash while 40,000 ft. in the air. Nice timing with this one, eh?

Alright so I admit it; I didn't read the author's first book, Seabiscuit, so I have no frame of reference in regards to her previous work. However, if it's anything like this book it must be amazing. Aside from this being a story about a runner (a total love of mine) and World War II (another total love of mine), my favorite thing about this story is that it was exhaustively researched. The author tied up as many loops as humanly possible given the distance she had to go to get the whole story. This book will not disappoint.

You can get to the NPR Interview here.

The Week of Living Dangerously

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I realize that I should probably write a nice little recap of last week's trip but...I. Just. Can't. It really was too much.

Let me just say that the procedure (when we finally got her in to do it) went well. All my (Southwest) flights arrived safely, on time - and I didn't have to pay to check my bags! The kids survived the week without mommy and my friends absolutely deserve awards for pitching in. Elijah ensured that I came home to a clean house and even brought the kids to the airport to meet me.

All in all, in spite of all the drama, I'm really glad I made the trip there (and back). I enjoyed seeing the members of the family who were able to make it out and we did, amidst all the chaos, have some fun times.